Conventional biological detection techniques involve performing ELISA to study protein specificity. Despite its technological sophistication and findings well recognized among biologists, ELISA requires fluorescent dyes which complicate ELISA. In view of this, it is important to develop novel biosensors.
The tiny sizes of the targets to be sensed by immunoassay biochips which detect biological molecules or sensing chips which detect gas concentration are nowadays reduced to microscale or even nanoscale. Hence, system sensitivity is a key index of competitiveness and reliability of sensors and applications thereof.
Gas and biological molecules detection devices, which involve applying conducting metal oxide nano film to biomedical sensing systems and detecting by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) as to how well specific biological molecules or gas molecules in micro-channels on surfaces of biomedical chips are bound to the chips, are highly sensitive, reliable and practical as well as widely applicable to future development of multichannel, high-throughput detection and high-sensitivity portable instruments, with a view to achieving high sensitivity and high throughput.
In this regard, SPR has advantages as follows: asking no standardization, attaining instant high throughput, and assaying the molecular affinity between a subject under test and biological molecules with just a trace amount of samples to collect quantifiable information about dynamics of intermolecular reactions and thereby serve the purpose of drug discovery instruments or in vitro diagnostics (IVDs).
U.S. Pat. No. 7,671,995 B2 discloses an apparatus of detecting biochemical molecules and gases by using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) molecular sensing technology, comprising: a coupler; a sensor chip; a cavity space, provided for a reaction of testing molecules; a detector; and an incident light source; wherein the sensor chip further comprises at least one layer of transparent substrate, at least one layer of conducting metal oxide intermediate layer and at least one layer of metal thin film layer.
TW I304707 discloses an organic electroluminescence surface plasmon resonance-based sensing device, comprising: an organic electroluminescence component for providing an excitation source of surface plasmon resonance wave; an insulating layer positioned proximate to a cathode layer of the organic electroluminescence component; and a sensing layer for sensing a target substance, with the sensing layer positioned proximate to the insulating layer or positioned proximate to a substrate of the organic electroluminescence component.